Oh Paris! The city of love and fashion. Paris never fails to
impress each time I go. It really never gets old. Seeing the Eiffel tower in
the distance always give me a sense of real excitement and feeling that I am
somewhere truly special.
This was my third time in Paris (I had been once when I was
around 8 years old and then again when I was living in Germany and I was around
14 years old). However, this was my first time there without my parents and
that means I could really just do whatever I wanted (aka not be dragged through
museums and stay out as late as I wanted). I got to see parts of Paris that I
had never experienced before, such as Le Marais, a beautiful, quaint area in the
Jewish quarter with lots of little second-hand shops, bakeries and some of the
best places to eat falafel in the world (we ate some of course, and it was very, very yummy).
We visited some of the open art galleries around Place des Voges
and Hugo showed us many of his street paintings he’s done in that area.
Actually, it was thanks to Hugo that we got to check out all these new places I
had never seen before. He’s been living in Paris for 5 years now and trying to
make it as a painter. He is actually becoming quite successful. He was telling
us about how he recently had his first art gallery and sold many of the
paintings and now has orders for more. Here is a link to a video showing a
selection of his paintings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7CT0aTrHZs
Here is a painting that was in his studio (which was me and Nabila's bedroom for 3 days):
 |
| This is for you Nono! It's Gator!:) It is a statue in one of the art galleries at Place des Voges. |
His street art is
also becoming quite famous in the city. An art-photographer from Minnesota, of
all places, had started taking pictures of his paintings on the streets, and
began a search for all of them. Then somehow, he contacted Hugo to ask if he
could publish the pictures on his website. Hugo has a unique style for his
street art. He takes an empty milk carton and fills it with white paint, then
pours this paint in a thin line on the street, making his “single-line” drawing
in about 15 seconds, ending with the word “monkey” in cursive, which is the
name he goes by for his street art. He paints skulls, faces and monkeys, all
with just one single line of paint. Now, you may guess that street art is
illegal in Paris, but this is not true. There is no law against it. If the city
authorities don’t like where you painted something or what you painted, they do
have the right to get rid of it. However, Hugo had become quite a lover of
taking changes and being “bad-ass”, so he just makes his acts illegal by
stealing white paint from nearby construction sites. He told me he has probably
stolen over 20 gallons! He also loves to take chances when riding the metro. He
jumps over the turnstile to get in and when an authority happens to be there to
ask for tickets, he simply says he doesn’t have an ID or money and therefore
cannot be fined or pay for anything, or he just sprints away. He told us it
works every time, although once they called the police on him. We found it
quite funny though, that the first time we rode the metro together when we arrived,
he got checked, and had to pay. He said it was because Nabila and I were there
and the authorities knew he would have to give in at some point and just pay.
 |
And one of his many street paintings... |
Anyway, back to street art. Hugo also pointed out a lot of
other artist’s street art that has become famous in Paris, such as “space
invaders”, which is a type of art not made with paint but with random colored
ceramic tiles that are put together to make kind of robot-looking figures on
walls of buildings.
He also pointed out a famous but simple painting
of a fetus in a womb near Place Pompadou.
Hugo knew all the best ways to walk from one place to another
in the city so we could see what we wanted. I saw places I’d never visited
before, such as the bridge with thousands of locks covering its sides, where couples
have come from all over the world for to attach a lock to represent their “never-ending”
love for each other. It amazing me how many locks are there. You can barely
find a free space. Hugo said that they had to re-measure the bridges weight to
make sure it could still hold itself up! We also visited La Grande Mosquée de Paris
(the biggest mosque in Paris), which is really a sight. It is huge, and going
inside is like stepping right into the Middle East. Beautiful fountains and
gardens are in a giant square, and you can go and drink special Middle Eastern tea
and eat Muslim food in the restaurant. We visited the Bon Marche and La
Grande Epicerie , which is simply unbelievable. They have so many different
foods, imported from all over the world! Of course they had an American
section, and Nabila and I found it quite appalling that they were charging 30
euros for a large bag of M&Ms! And 15 euros for a small box of brownie mix!
Amazing. We also visited the Sacré-Cœur Basilica (at night, which is when it is beautifully lit
and you get a stunning view of the entire city, even the Eiffel tower, which is
brightly glowing and actually “shimmers” for 5 min on every hour. It’s really a
sight to see. There was also a church service going on in the church, so as we
walked around and looked at the beautiful paintings and stained glass, we could
listen to the music of the organ and the people singing. Also around the church
during that time of year is a small Christmas market, where people sell
authentic goods such as homemade baked pastries, soaps, wooden figures, scarfs
and other things.
 |
| La Grande Mosquée de Paris |
 |
| Le Pantheon! |
 |
| Christmas market |
 |
| The beautiful Sacré-Cœur |
 |
| The bridge of locks! |
 |
| Interesting smoke in front of a church... |
 |
|
Friday night, Hugo brought us to a big party happening at
one of the oldest and most famous bar/restaurant/club in Paris, called the Bus
Palladium, where he told us famous musicians and artists from all over the
world have visited many times when they came to Paris. For example, Salvador
Dalí hung out there a lot, and the French musician Serge Gainsbourg mentioned the bar in his
song Qui Est In Qui Est Out.
The Beatles also frequented the bar, and even Mick Jagger hosted his birthday
there! The club has a more rock and roll-style--mounted guitars and musician headshots
line the vintage wallpaper—and this made it a nice change from the clubs I was
used to back home in Brussels, which are all giant places with sleek, silver
bars and modern furniture and typical dance/club music blasting. This place has
a more homey feel, but still just crazy. We met lots of random people,
who seemed to be very friendly and open. All I can say is, Parisians are not
afraid to show their affection, especially when they’ve had something to drink!
Of course we also stopped by the famous tourist attractions:
Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, Musée D’Orsay (Yes
mom, we squeezed in one museumJ)
Okay, yes they are touristy, but they still never fail to amaze meJ All I can say is, no
wonder I became obsessed with this city when I was 8 years old. I decorated my
entire bedroom with Paris things…I dreamed of being Parisian. All I can say is,
I was a smart little girl with good taste;)
 |
| This was interesting... Some guy decided to party-crash this wedding and do a little afternoon fishing. |
 |
| La Louvre:) |
 |
| Sharing our eclair:) |
 |
| Musée D’Orsay |
Nabila and I of course had to try all the French
specialties, fresh baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolat, tartes, quiche….
 |
| The famous macaroons...in a rainbow of flavors! |
 |
| Pastries at the famous La Duree |
 |
| Macaroon menu! |
 |
| Of course we had to go in and taste a few of the best macaroons in the world! |
 |
| Heaven!! |
 |
| Purple one is candied violet and yellow is salted caramel... They were perfect, melt-in-your-mouth heaven:) |
We
even did a baguette photo shoot one day...all I can say is we made good use of
that baguette and we were impressed by how long it held up (of course we ate
the part of it that hadn’t fallen on the ground yet).
 |
| Finally... it died:( was still delicious though! |
But, one night it was late and we hadn’t eaten dinner yet
and wanted to get something quick. The only place that was open was a take-away
Chinese food restaurant, so we just got some food there. Let me just tell you, Parisians
don’t eat Chinese food…and they have a good reason for it:P
Hugo surprisingly taught us a lot about fashion in Paris. I
always knew fashion was a big deal in the city, but I was never really informed
about what “fashionable” in Paris actually means. Apparently, if you are older
than 30 and loaded, you wear very, very expensive clothes from exclusive
designers (some of these clothes can be found in small shops in Le Marais, we
went into one and looked at jackets costing thousands of euros...and they were
thin as two sheets of paper and painted in a metallic silver!). Basically, if
you’re old, you should not try to loudly flaunt your wealth. Putting it
plainly, don’t carry around a purse that says Louis Vuitton all over it. First
of all, if you were loaded and you lived in Paris, you would never buy Louis
Vuitton. It is considered the lowest and least expensive of the top designers.
And second, because that shows you want people to think you are so fashionable
and have money to spend on expensive stuff, when really the coolest way to be
is be subtle and tasteful and people will be able to tell that you are wearing something
expensive…at least real high-class Parisians will be able to. It doesn’t need
the designer logo...they can recognize just by the design of the clothing.
If you are under 30 but still want to dress with style and
be noticed, then it is acceptable to wear the famous designers that everyone
will recognize (so yes, you can wear Louis V) BUT it still has to be discreet
(so only a Louis V Belt, and no big name across it, just a small logo). You can
wear a Lacoste hat (with a SMALL symbol on it) No shirts with logos, no big
bags with logos... No no no. It’s all about being discreet. That is fashion.
That is Parisian “cool.”
